i'm baffled my water levels are acidic, and i dont know why, ammonia0 nitrite 0 trying to fix nitrates are high, but i both my two tanks the water is acidic, our tap water is alkaline, the only thing i can think of is more water changes, as i'm over crowded and the water is not being changed enough. what are your thoughts.

Hi puggirl,

The first thing you need to do is test your carbonate hardness (KH). That provides buffering against pH swings especially towards acidic. If you have little or no carbonate, your water will head south. BTW, most of the biological process happening in your tank generates acid somewhere along the way so the natural tendency for the tank is to become acidic.

For a quick boost of KH, baking soda is very effective. For long term stablisation, crushed shells and crushed coral are commonly used.

ok great thanks for that advice, i have that test will test tomorrow, tonight i did a large %50 water change as i also have very high nitrate, so i thought some frsh water would do the tanks some good. i also added some ph up, so i will tank tank tomorrow for that as well see if there is any change.

I don't think you should be doing that if you don't know your kh. You could get a ph crash.